Catalonia and all of Spain are in a process of mourning and resistance. The attack on Thursday, August 17, on one of the busiest streets in Barcelona, Las Ramblas, left 13 people dead and continues to keep authorities on high alert. Residents and visitors of Barcelona, one of the most touristic cities in Europe, are in shock. Just a few hours afterwards, another attack followed on the resort city of Cambrils, where six people, including a policeman, were hurt and one died. The attack in Cambrils was stopped by Catalonia's security forces, the Mossos d'Esquadra, but its effect was strongly felt.

In spite of the recent events, Plaza Cataluña was packed with people who came out to honor the victims with a minute of silence. The homage ended with expressions of collective strength and solidarity reflected in the impromptu chant, No Tinc Por: We are not afraid.

Reflection and resistance

Soon Twitter echoed the people at the Plaza. Users shared several support messages under the hashtag, #NoTincPor, which became a global trending topic:

Fear will not triumph. We walk again at las #Ramblas and we will do it with freedom and love for our city and our lives. #NoTincPor

Others took time to write more extensively about the possible meaning of the attacks that have happened in Europe in the last years. Ideas of differences, migration policies, international alliances, recent history and the hard shock of losing innocent lives moved Martí Rodríguez Vidal, like many other online contributors, to share his reflections.

…the truth is — in all its purity and rawness — that on days like this, what really comes to mind is to step away from the world. […] But also, one would like to step away from this because of extreme intellectual laziness in the face of the effort it takes to come to a fair judgement. To look at nuances and avoid generalizations. We have to look for more causes other than pure irrational hatred. Because if we put a blindfold on our eyes, turn the page and go back to normal, we will get more attacks. Sure. The terrorist dynamic is ongoing and feeding itself. […] Who, in a normal situation, makes the decision to kill unknown people? […] In which moment does this person think that the people around him are guilty for his social failure? Is it possible that someone who lives in El Raval feels abandoned by society?

Those of us who dare to write have the duty to talk about hope. Not because of a moral or syntactic imperative, but simply for pure humanity's sake. Do you know that a Muslim taxi driver transported a lot of the people affected by the attack, he didn’t charge them and told them “not all Muslims are the same”; or that the hotels in the area opened their doors and made their rooms available for free? [Did you know that] dozens of policemen and Mossos de Esquadra (a local police force) risked their lives for our safety? Or that in a couple of hours all the hospitals reached the limit of blood they can store because of the massive response of people going to donate their blood?

Those are also questions. And they are also hope.

Online solidarity and respect for the victims

During the attack, Spain's national police force shared this note of thanks for the respectful treatment given to the victims:

Respect.
In the image: Out of respect for the victims of yesterday’s attack in Barcelona, we won’t sell some of the newspapers that have sensationalist and explicit images on their first pages.

During police operations, social media also avoided sharing pictures and videos of the attack, both out of respect and also to avoid sharing sensitive information with the perpetrators. They were inspired by the people of Brussels, who after the attack they suffered in 2015, shared only pictures of cats and pets.

Expressions of solidarity online and the banding together of those in the city, seem to show that the people of Barcelona and its visitors will always remember Las Ramblas in the same way that beloved Spanish poet Federico García Lorca did:

The most joyful street in the world, the street were all the four seasons live together. The only street I wish would never end. Rich in sounds, abundant in breeze, beautiful in its encounters, old in its blood: Rambla de Barcelona.